Mariano, who has lived in the city from an early age, is summoned back to his village to attend his grandfather's funeral. But when he arrives, he discovers two things: firstly, that he has been nominated by his grandfather to take over the running of the family affairs, secondly that his grandfather has not died completely, but is in that frontier space between life and death. In traditional belief, he has died 'badly', and something must happen in order for him to be laid to rest. Mariano starts to receive letters supposedly written by his grandfather, telling him about the family. It is through this strange relationship that he discovers the secret of his own birth, while also cleansing his grandfather's conscience. The novel contains a blend of picturesque and sometimes comic characters and situations.

An old man and a young boy, refugees from a civil war, seek shelter in a burnt out bus. Among the effects of a dead passenger, they discover a set of notebooks that tell of his life. As the boy reads the story to his elderly companion, the tale gradually becomes part of their own lives. Sleepwalking Land, Mia Couto?s first novel, was an immediate success, and judged at the Zimbabwe Bookfair 2001 to be one of the 12 best African books of the 20th century. Set in the author?s native Mozambique, the novel examines the effects of war and devastation on a newly independent African nation. A sombre book, it reflects a moment in the history of Mozambique when the country could only go forward after settling its account with the bloody past. Deftly exploring the relationship between oral tradition and the written word, truth and fiction, memory and invention, this is a memorable book that captures a critical moment in Africa?s history.

The civil war in Mozambique has ended but still the local soldiers are being hit by the landmines that litter the ground. When United Nations peacekeepers begin to suffer too, a high-level delegation visits the village of Tizangara, to initiate an investigation. Alongside representatives of central government and UN officials is an Italian, Massimo Risi, who has been charged with the business of finding out what happened. Risi?s interpreter has collated information for posterity based on taped interviews, letters and witness accounts, documents which form the backbone of this book, as he narrates it. Global issues are seen from a local African perspective in this subtle and playful novel, in which Mia Couto blends oral storytelling techniques with his customary originality and flair.

Set against the backdrop of the war between the Kingdom of Gaza, one of the last great pre-colonial African kingdoms, and the Portuguese colonialists, a young African woman Imani and the Portuguese sergeant Germano de Melo have shared an unexpected love. While Germano is left behind in Africa, serving with the Portuguese military, Imani is enlisted to serve as interpreter to the imprisoned emperor of Gaza, Ngungunyane, on the long voyage to Lisbon. For Ngungunyane and his seven wives, it will be a journey of no return. Whereas Imani will come back only after a decade-long odyssey through the Portuguese empire at the turn of the nineteenth century. In the third novel of his acclaimed Sands of the Emperor trilogy, Couto supplies a voice to those silenced by the horrors of colonialism. As he depicts the beauty and terror of war and love, and reveals the devastation of a profoundly unequal clash of cultures, he gives a uniquely personal voice to a little-known period of history.

This new research in English on the work of the Mozambican writer Mia Couto provides a comprehensive introduction to the critical terrain of Couto's literary thought. Already well-established in the Lusophone world, Mia Couto is increasingly acknowledged as a major voice in World literature. Winner of the Camoes Prize for Literature in 2013, the most prestigious literary prize honouring Lusophone writers, he was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2014, and in 2015 was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize. Yet, despite this high profile there are very few full-length critical studiesin English about his writing. Mia Couto is known for his imaginative re-working of Portuguese, making it distinctively Mozambican in character. This book brings together some of the key scholars of his work such as Phillip Rothwell, Luis Madureira, and his long-time English translator David Brookshaw. Contributors examine not only his early works, which were written in the context of the 16-year post-independence civil war in Mozambique, but alsothe wide span of Couto's contemporary writing as a novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. There are contributions on his work in ecology, theatre and journalism, as well as on translation and Mozambican nationalist politics. Most importantly the contributors engage with the significance of Couto's writing to contemporary discussions of African literature, Lusophone studies and World literature. Grant Hamilton is Associate Professor of English literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the editor of Reading Marechera (James Currey, 2013). David Huddart is Associate Professor of English literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kongand is author of Involuntary Associations: World Englishes and Postcolonial Studies (Liverpool University Press, 2014]

A seminal novel of African decolonization available for the first time in English translation.  Lisbon, 1961. To escape surveillance by the dictatorship’s secret police, African students meet at the Casa, a campus club, where they dream of the homelands they will free from colonialism. Following four young revolutionaries who dream of building an epic campaign for a liberated, socialist Angola, The Utopian Generation charts the intertwined destinies of Sara, an idealistic doctor; Aníbal, an intense intellectual; Vítor, an aspiring political leader; and Malongo, a party-hopping soccer player. But when repression scatters them, they move from Europe to Africa, from idealism to disillusionment, from terror and battlefield violence to love, loss, grief, corruption, and cold-blooded calculation.  Vast in scope yet intricate and revealing in its insights into the psychological tensions of colonialism, The Utopian Generation is widely considered in the Portuguese-speaking world an essential novel of African decolonization—and is now available in English translation for the first time.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Gaza province of Mozambique is drowning in a torrent of war. Imani, a fifteen-year-old girl, struggles with her cultural identity as she is torn between her VaChopi roots and the occupying Portuguese. Her life becomes further fractured as her family is broken apart amid the conflict. Germano, a sergeant wrestling with guilt and grandeur, attempts to subdue one of the last African kingdoms, but meanwhile falls in love with Imani and loses himself to an infectious madness. In this vivid and enchanting novel, Mia Couto masterfully interweaves history with folklore and has managed to create a work of rare originality and imagination.

Book 2 in the reports series on the Upper Tisza Project, north-eastern Hungary. This volume investigates the settlement patterns in the Bodrogkoz Block. Contents: 1) Introduction to the Upper Tisza Project (John Chapman & Jozsef Laszlovszky); 2) The environment of the Bodrogkoz Block (Robert Shiel, Eniko Magyari, Basil Davis & John Chapman); 3) Land use potential of the Bodrogkoz Block (Robert Shiel); 4) The Gazetteer (John Chapman, Mark Gillings, Steve Leyland, Leanne Stowe & Denise Telford); 5) Analysis and interpretation of field survey data (John Chapman, Mark Gillings, Robert Shiel & Steve Leyland); 6) Summary of main results, Bodrogkoz Block (John Chapman, Mark Gillings & Steve Leyland).

Book 3 in the reports series on the Upper Tisza Project, north-eastern Hungary. This volume investigates the settlement patterns in the Zemplen Block. Contents: 1) Introduction to the Upper Tisza Project (John Chapman); 2) The environment of the Zemplen Block (Robert Shiel & Eniko Magyari); 3) Land use potential of the Zemplen Block (Robert Shiel); 4) The Gazetteer (John Chapman, Mark Gillings, Denise Telford & Steve Cousins); 5) Interpretation of prehistoric field survey data (John Chapman, Mark Gillings, Katalin Biro & Karen Hardy); 6) Interpretation of Early Modern forest prospection (John Chapman & Mark Gillings); 7) Summary of main results, Zemplen Block (John Chapman & Mark Gillings).